Instanz: TeilenTeilen:Thinking beyond antibiotics in the treatment of urinary tract infectionsAnna Euteneuer Kommunikation und MarketingUniversität zu Köln30.07.2026 13:20A Swiss and German research team has explored the combined use of phage and fecal microbiota therapy to treat female patients with recurrent urinary tract infections that do not respond to conventional therapies. Recurrent urinary tract infections (rUTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections worldwide and primarily affect women. The results of the study “Combined Phage therapy and fecal microbiota transplantation to treat recurrent urinary tract infection: a case series” have been published in Nature Microbiology. Vehreschild is the deputy coordinator of the DZIF Healthcare-Associated Infections research area, while Biehl and Classen are scientists in the same area. Since the bacteria causing the recurring infections often reside in the gut as well as the urinary tract, the FMT treatment targeted the intestinal reservoirs of E. coli that survive antibiotic treatment of acute infections and can become increasingly resistant.